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Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
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Author:  John E. McNamara [ Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
I am associated with a group of people that is trying to do some space planning for a museum that will feature large stationary steam engines. One of the topics of discussion is how much space is required (either absolute or percentage-wise) for the "backroom" functions of a typical museum. It is fairly clear that to keep a museum "vital" and attract repeat visitors, special events and the periodic change of exhibit materials is required. While a large part of a railroad museum's physical plant is motive power, cars, and track, many railroad museums also have artifact and photo display areas. I guess my question is how much storage, exhibit preparation space, and office space is typically required relative to the amount of public display space.Any questions and comments would be appreciated. Thanks!-John
Author:  scrmcurator [ Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
The space required for storage is always one more than the number of weatherproof boxcars and baggage cars that you've got! ;o)Seriously, it's impossible to answer that because it depends on so many variables... what you've got that needs to be stored, how much exhibit space you've got, etc.One of my solutions to the storage problem is what I call "visible storage." Prop some of your more interesting junk along a wall in an arrangement of similar pieces (i.e. a collection of signs or switch parts), and viola! Instant exhibit, with minimal effort, and the stuff is (relatively) out of the way. Labels are even optional, as the stuff just sort of adds character to the room. The whole front wall of my exhibit building uses this approach. Eventually I'll be able to work those items into a real exhibit that's a bit more interperetive, but for now the stuff is out of the way and the "why haven't you used such-and-such" contingent is silenced.
Author:  doowoppie [ Fri Sep 16, 2005 9:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
HiA few thoughts on space needs for displays, storage, repair, office space plus amenities.Display Space: The more the merrier, but since most people have limited space make sure you have good walking space around each piece of equipment, enough so you can get a good picture of the item or to be able to have a group of people standing at it without crowding each other.Storage: Since this space is not going to be viewed most times by the public put things as close together as you can get them and still be able to walk between cars and other rolling stock, and Items that are really small can be stored in boxcars and other cars but keep these cars close to the end of the storage area so they can be gotten to eaisly. As Matt stated weather proof storage is a must because having a building big enough to store everything is very expensive and or hard to come by. so a lot of things will be stored outside.Dont toss small things into the boxcars either, Build shelves and store things in an orderly fashion. (my Garage is the opposite of this and I have a hard time finding things)Repair: This depends on what you plan to do as far as repairing and restoring equipment and the space is comparable to your efforts in this area. if you need or have machine tools necessary to rebuild old steam locos or even old Diesels (I heard that groan ) you will need a very large area preferrably inside or under a metal roof. A large machine shop can be a plus because you can have guided tours of the repair facilities during certain times. Do make sure there are no tools or cables scattered over the walking area when doing tours. Some lawyers love lawsuits.Office Space: Depending on the Space you have you could actually use a couple of modern slightly rough cars for Office space. It would take work but that would give more room for your museum space. If you use cars for offices then you can put them anywhere out of the way.Amenities: This includes Restrooms Breakrooms and places to sit while visiting. The womens Restrooms should be about 3 times the size of the mens room and both should be heated in the winter and cooled in the summer. Even though they wont be in it for more than a few minutes comfort for one of the more important natural jobs is a must.Place Breakroom Centrally if Possible and seating in different places.A suggestion on how you can figure these things our is to set up a layout using either HO or N Scale and build a model of your Mueseum property and then you can arrange things till you have what you want people to see and that fits within your space restrictions.HTHAndrew Martin
Author:  pm-man [ Fri Sep 16, 2005 9:57 am ]
Post subject:  Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions: The reality
My first question is this; have your THOROUGHLY examined your collections and THEIR needs first, rather then trying to make them conform to a structure/ building/ design that may not be healthy for them long term? Look, I am a big proponent of the vizible storage concept --- RRMofP and NRM in York are some of the better examples of this in our category, but there is an excellent example of this too at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowac in both their "model" room and in the recreated seafront area that they have. But you'll find even the best museums face the reality of PROPER collections storage; it can (and IMHO should) take up as much space as possible given the size of the collection that you have. A couple of MAJOR factors to consider:1.) How much of your equipment will be inside, and how much out? 2.) How do you plan to take care of your exterior equipment? Do you have a schedule for paint, varnish, grease, oil, and other maintenance?3.) Have you invested in a proper HVAC system, one that can maintain Humidity in the 35-55% range (depending on collections, paper needing more very often)4.) Are planning on creating separate areas for painting, woodshop, ironwork, etc.?5.) Do you a fund in place for future collections care? 6.) Do you plan on taking future donations of items? If so, are you planning for growth of those collection, or like too many institutions, are you planning just for what you have today, with little thought to tomorrow's needs?To me (and yes, I am prejudice, being a Curator), the PROPER collectionsstorage environment is as important if not more than the exhibit area. The argument I usually get is that "collections don't pay the bills." That, is, pardon the term, b.s. The reality is that, if you take CARE of your collections, MAINTAIN them if you will, they can go to work FOR you. How you say? An example is listed below with the 1913 Storm Exhibit of our fellow Marine Museum, the Bruce County Museum in Ontario. Their collections now go out on exhibit; this brings in money via two routes: one, the basic rental fee; and two, by showing potential visitors you would never reach otherwise a TASTE of what you have to offer. To give you an idea of how much that can mean ---- at some facilities, their exhibition services PAY FOR the collections staff --- no, I'm not kidding. In short (too late); take PROPER care of your collections, think about the space they will be stored and maintained in, and plan for future growth. And before you ask, no, my instution isn't there yet, but were getting better ;- ) TJ GaffneyPort Huron MuseumsBruce County Exhibithttp://www.brucecounty.on.ca/museum/storm/travellingexibit.htmImage
Author:  John E. McNamara [ Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
Many thanks to Matt, Andrew, and TJ for their comments. I've been reading RYPN long enough to know that I could count on you folks ;-)To clarify, however, and at possible risk of being declared off-topic, I should emphasize that the steam engines involved are indeed stationary. They are steam-operated water pumps of gigantic size. (See http://www.chwaterpumps.com/Galleries/Gal~Allis.htm.)I will try to remain on-topic, however, by suggesting that the general question applies to the non-rolling part of any railroad museum. While we would not be moving our principal exhibits, we can envision that explanatory graphics and possible small operating models would supplement the exhibition of the large machines. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania comes to mind as an example of a museum where there is substantial exhibition space that is presumeably supported by substantial "back room" space to support those exhibits.I'm wondering how much "back room" space is required. Perhaps 30-40% of the space required for the exhibits being supported?Thanks,-John
Author:  JR May [ Fri Sep 16, 2005 12:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
John:While not completely on topic, this is an amazing project. In checking the web site, can you provide an update on where you stand with the volunteer effort to clean up the engines for the developer? As to back room space, my experience would be something along these lines:1) A conference room big enough for board meetings. Say big enough for 12 people around a table, additional seats around the walls. The room can also be used for organizing archives and other low impact projects.2) Desk space/work stations for 2 or 3 people, although this depends on the size of your organization. Decent sized desks, too. Big enough for computers and bill paying, etc.3) File storage areas to include drawers and shelves. You have to judge what you have now, then expect people to drop stuff at your door as time goes on.4) Art work/photo storage. Again, this can grow over time as well and is critical.5) Drawing storage. This is key in my mind as large drawings are generally beat to death by not being properly stored. This may be quite a large cabinet so be prepared. I am assuming you have drawings for the engines and that they are huge. Just off hand then, and guessing, I'd say you need no less than 1000sq ft to 1200 sq ft of back room space not including storage space for other than what I mentioned above. Hard to put it into percentages, but probably 10-20 percent as a guess for back room space. As to storage for hardware items, in your case that could be huge due to the size of the items you are working with. You really need to judget that yourself. Good luck with it. Sounds like a great project, although I hate to see one of the engines cut up.J.R. Mayjrmay@monmouth.com
Author:  survivingworldsteam [ Fri Sep 16, 2005 1:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
Hi John;So, you are with the Chestnut Hill Waterworks project! Cool!Before going any further, have you been in touch with any of the pumping stations preserved in the UK? They have already gone through the thought process you are going through now, so it would save you a little bit of re-inventing the wheel. It will also give you some concrete examples.If my memory serves me right; there are plans to adaptively reuse part of the site for condos or other developments. One thing you might be able to negotiate is the join use of some public areas, such as a visitors center, restrooms, and a meeting/special event/conference area. Some of the exhibit space may be reused as conference space for a small rental fee.Often, the boilers in the boilerhouse are scrapped; leaving additional space can be used as exhibit or storage space. Kew Bridge Steam Museum has exhibits that are not part of the original pumping station in the former boilerhouse.Pumping stations like this usually had a machine shop area, so you could continue using it in the same role.If this is a mixed-use development, try to stay in the forefront of the development plans as much as possible. Do not let the museum portion become an afterthought; or something that is "shoved in the corner" in the final development. Rather, it should be a centerpoint, something that makes the final development unique from others. Maybe Bob and others can contribute some more insight into mixed used developments based on some of the station redevelopments they have seen.The museum space would also be ideal for special events. Steve Hussar took the great picture below; I featured it in my "holiday virtual tour" of steam pumps, and mentioned it looked like something from Santa's workshop.ImageI really appreciate what you folks are doing; keep up the great work.-James Hefner Hebrews 10:20a Surviving World Steam Project[/img]
Author:  kalbrandt [ Sat Sep 17, 2005 6:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
John,The traditional wisdom for a generic museum suggests that, “As a rule of thumb, the museum should have at least as much space for the collections as for the exhibits. The well-known proportion, 40-40-20, means that of the total amount of space in the museum, 40 percent should be for collections, 40 percent for exhibits, and the remaining 20 percent for everything else (offices, rest rooms, hallways, janitor’s closets, lobbies, auditoriums, lunchrooms, workrooms, receiving rooms, carpenter shops, elevators, etc.). Twenty percent may not be enough for all of this. A more reasonable proportion might be 30-30-40. The main point is that at least as much space should be devoted to the collections that are not on exhibit as is devoted to the public space where the exhibits are located. Notice that in a professional museum today, one that is based on collections and in which education is paramount, less than one-third of the floor area of the building or buildings is devoted to exhibits.”G. Ellis Burcaw, Introduction to Museum Work, 3d ed. (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 1997), 102.
Author:  John E. McNamara [ Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
In response to JR May's request for an update on volunteer efforts to clean the machines, I regret to say that the project has not progressed to that point. The state government, a developer, his architect, and a neighborhood (non-mechanical) interest group are all involved, so things are still very much in flux.-John
Author:  Stephen Hussar [ Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
In this case, with the machinery so large, there is just no way the developer is going to give up an amount of space equal to that of the display area. I would imagine in their minds the ratio is something like, 90-5-5. But this is an excellent topic for discussion.Image
Author:  scrmcurator [ Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Reality?
pm-man wrote:
To me (and yes, I am prejudice, being a Curator), the PROPER collectionsstorage environment is as important if not more than the exhibit area. The argument I usually get is that "collections don't pay the bills." That, is, pardon the term, b.s. The reality is that, if you take CARE of your collections, MAINTAIN them if you will, they can go to work FOR you. How you say? An example is listed below with the 1913 Storm Exhibit of our fellow Marine Museum, the Bruce County Museum in Ontario. Their collections now go out on exhibit; this brings in money via two routes: one, the basic rental fee; and two, by showing potential visitors you would never reach otherwise a TASTE of what you have to offer. To give you an idea of how much that can mean ---- at some facilities, their exhibition services PAY FOR the collections staff --- no, I'm not kidding.
I won't argue with your basic premise. I agree with you 100%.The problem is getting around the tunnelvision of others in the organization, and attracting volunteers who will be as enthusiastic about exhibits as they are about playing choo-choo. This is what I have to fight, and I'm sure a lot of others have the exact same problem.I routinely turn down donations of paper and fabric. Why? Because I know my exhibit and storage facilities are going to destroy those kinds of artifacts. I usually suggest other museums for paper and fabric, museums that have better archival conditions.I have tried to make the facilities I'm responsible for more archival. But I hit two financial brick walls -- no money for a decent facility, and the perception that keeping the HVAC on 24/7 is a "waste."We have one member who actually extinguishes the pilot light for the office furnace in the summer. We get charged a minimum fee for the gas whether we use it or not. The pilot uses considerably less than the minimum. So putting out the pilot doesn't actually save a penny. But this guy is so tight he insists on extinguishing it anyway. How do you convince someone like that of the value of maintaining a constant temperature and humidity when nobody is in the building?That's the one thing I dislike about this forum. Every time we get into a discussion about the "right" way to run a museum, we all generally agree that few small museums conform to that "right" way. That's because we small outfits are always cash-strapped and have to put priority on the stuff that has an immediate financial reward.Collections don't pay the bills -- at least not at first. A program renting out traveling exhibits requires either an initial grant or donation to fund developing those traveling exhibits, or a mountain of volunteer time to get the program going to the point that it'll fund itself. I sure don't have the time or manpower to do it on a shoestring, and writing a grant would require just as much time and effort. It's a catch 22. The program could eventually pay for itself and more, but because it won't initially, there's nobody available to put time into developing it, hence no program.
Author:  scrmcurator [ Mon Sep 19, 2005 1:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
Going along with my "reality" response below, I must chime in that in many organizations the proportions mentioned aren't at all a realistic expectation of what you'll get. If you've got the luxury of being able to name your own terms, great, shoot for the ideal. Otherwise, my advice is to ask for as much "back space" as you can possibly get (maybe even pad it upwards if you think they'll give you less than you ask for), and then figure out how to make do with what you do actually get. That's why I mentioned the "visible storage" idea; it's a way to make do with insufficient storage.Another thing I've done at SCRM is build storage into the exhibits. For example, I built a large model railroad depicting the stone quarries. You wouldn't believe the junk I've got stuffed under the tables! Make efficient use of whatever space you get by designing the exhibits so they can hide small artifacts you're not using.
Author:  doowoppie [ Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Space Requirements for Museum Support Functions
John E. McNamara wrote:
In response to JR May's request for an update on volunteer efforts to clean the machines, I regret to say that the project has not progressed to that point. The state government, a developer, his architect, and a neighborhood (non-mechanical) interest group are all involved, so things are still very much in flux.-John
Wow!That is some Really Beautiful Equipment to look and and it will be again if you are allowed to restore it back to operational condition. I am beginning to feel that stationary steam is going to be a secondary love for me next to steam locos, and I know some people who would love to work on the equipment. I do hope the developer and local government give your group enough room to do what you can to save them. It is getting to where sometimes they dont want to cooperate when there is lots of money involevd. and with Developmnents there is lots of money involved.All the best for your effortsAndrewP.S. Matt, next time I come by the SCRM down there I may look under some tables ;-)Andy
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